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Horror Rises from the Tomb AKA El Espanto surge de la tumba (1973) - Special Edition
R1 - America - BCI/Deimos Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen (4th March 2008). |
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The Film
 France, in the mid 15th century. Sorcerer Alaric du Marnac (Paul Naschy) is facing a tribunal, which is about to sentence him to death. There´s more evidence than would ever be needed for one man - especially in a time when the power of Satan is feared the most; black masses and devil worshipping, blood sacrifices of newborns and maidens, drinking blood and eating flesh of the dead… The list is long and dark. Du Marnac will be decapitated, since his head should never re-unite again with his body. Before making his exit from this war and plague driven land, he´ll promise to return. Du Marnac´s mistress, Mabille De Lancré (Helga Liné - e.g. “The Loreley's Grasp AKA Las Garras de Lorelei (1974)”) will have a similar faith and she continues where her master left of; the descendants of the tribunal will be cursed forever and they´ll suffer the worst tragedies. The spirit of vengeance will follow them. From this gloomy opening the story moves to modern day (1970s at that time) Paris, where two couples are having a get-together. Hugo du Marnac (Paul Naschy) and Sylvia (Betsabé Ruiz - e.g. “Werewolf Shadow AKA La Noche de Walpurgis (1971)”) will meet their painter friend Maurice Roland (Víctor Alcázar - as Vic Winner, e.g. “Hunchback of the Morgue AKA El Jorobado de la Morgue (1973)”) and Maurice´s girlfriend Paula (Cristina Suriani - e.g. “The Dracula Saga AKA La Saga de los Drácula (1972)”) has also arrived to town from Germany. They´re invited to a foursome, but before you have any wrong ideas, strictly in the spiritual sense only. Maurice declines for this session, but the others will witness how the spirit of the Sorcerer du Marnac will speak through the old woman. The old legend says that the remains of Du Marnac and his mistress are buried close to the ruins of a certain monastery. This place is located in the lands that are now owned by Hugo. While Hugo is still very skeptical, he´ll join the others for the visit of Villas De Sade and the search of the ruins. After all, it´s best to lay all doubts to rest. This time Maurice will also come along, since he has witnessed some very odd premonitions recently and is still shook-up. Soon the group is heading towards the rural, snowy mountain area. The real surprise is waiting for them… Spanish writer/actor Paul Naschy (screenplay with the name “Jacinto Molina”, which is very close to his birth name “Jacinto Molina Álvarez”) has a strong cult-following among the fans and “Horror Rises from the Tomb” is probably his best known work. One of the main reasons for this is that it manages to combine so many elements from the horror-genre into one film. There are devilish powers, resurrections, murders, sacrifices, living dead, organ devouring and even the magic talisman. When those elements are mixed up with isolation, eroticism, romance and the very bleak landscapes, you could say that “Horror Rises from the Tomb” certainly “delivers” for those who are seeking obscure Euro-horror. There´s still a flip side to that coin, since the story drags in places or is just unnecessary confusing. There are several good sequences, but the pacing of the film isn´t always that successful. The mood is often too “still” and the horror suffers in the process. I also have to go against the Naschy-fans by saying that he´s much better in the film by playing the evil Alaric du Marnac than his descendant Hugo. It´s certainly an achievement for Naschy, that he can play 2-3 characters in the same film, but in “Horror Rises from the Tomb” the character of Hugo is probably the weakest link of the whole film. With “Hugo”, Naschy basically keeps that one, wooden expression on his face throughout the film, no matter what comes his way. It´s not bad acting, but something was missing for me, considering that Hugo is one of the lead characters in the whole film. Other actors are more natural in their roles (still a bit “stiff”), although the dubbing can be a bit distracting in places. The low budget and tight schedule doesn´t really have a major negative effect on the visual look, but it certainly shows in the acting and structure of the movie. The film gets more interesting, when Hugo and Elvira (Emma Cohen - e.g. “Cut-Throats Nine AKA Condenados a vivir (1972)”) - the daughter of caretaker Gastone (Juan Cazalilla - e.g. “Who Can Kill a Child? AKA ¿Quién puede matar a un niño? (1976)”) are sharing romance in the middle of all the surrounding mayhem. This feels quite refreshing (perhaps not all that believable, though), and together with the sense of isolation (no help, no telephone, no gas, no food, no escape), is breathing some life to the story. Still, it´s the horror that keeps the film going and several effective sequences are created (e.g. the opening decapitation, the “shotgun in the shore”-sequence and of course the scene when the zombies arrive). The effects are not always that masterful, but with the clever editing and camera angles they usually still work. Violence is actually partly off-screen (e.g. the “kitchen death scene”), but that actually makes it more effective. The film doesn´t go overboard with the nudity (even when there are again several ladies in the film) and it usually feel rather tasteful (at least compared to some other films from the same era). The film is directed Carlos Aured (e.g. “Curse of the Devil AKA El Retorno de Walpurgis (1973)”).
Video
“Deimos Entertainment” includes the “International version” of the film (with English credits), with a few scenes of nudity intact. The “Spanish version” includes “clothes scenes” instead, and that version was released earlier by the U.S. based “Mondo Crash Cinema”. While the R0 “Mondo Crash Cinema”-release also includes the “International version”, it´s sourced from the VHS-tape. That´s not the case with “Deimos Entertainment”-release, since it presents the film in Anamorphic 1.85:1 - sourced from the film elements. The cover advertises that the film is “mastered in High Definition”, but while the transfer is most likely taken from the new HD-master, the DVD is still mastered in 480 (NTSC) standard definition. The transfer is boasting strong colours and black levels, and it´s very clean. There´s minor softness (along with grain) and some darker scenes looked inferior, but it´s actually hard to say which one originates from the original, low-budget qualities of the production and which from the master itself. While the film doesn´t look fully pristine, I´m quite sure that it´s a revelation for most fans. “Horror Rises from the Tomb” is now resurrected. “Single layer” disc (taking 4.65 GB) is coded “R1” and runs 88:44 minutes (NTSC). There are 15 chapters.
Audio
“Horror Rises from the Tomb” includes two audio options; Castilian Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono and English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. Optional English subtitles are included and they’re not “dub-titles”. Both tracks are again dubbed, with the Spanish being probably the preferable choice (not saying that the English track is that bad). Compared to the English one, the Spanish track sounds more “harsh” with a minor distortion, so the dialogue is loud and the background hiss slightly more prominent. In a purely technical sense the English track sounds more pleasant (and overall quieter). Both tracks are still pretty good and do the job, especially for the older film like this one.
Extras
-“Introduction by writer/actor Paul Naschy” -featurette, running 1:05 minutes (in Spanish, with “forced” English subtitles) is included before the main feature. It can also be selected from the menu. -Audio commentary with writer/actor Paul Naschy and director Carlos Aured is moderated by Angel Gomez Rivero, and it´s in Spanish (with optional English subtitles). While I´m quite happy that this commentary was recorded (even more so, since the director Aured passed away very recently), I can´t fully accept its technical quality. The recording is quite poor and even if you can understand Spanish, you might not hear everything. Well, apart from the mediocre audio, the commentary itself is fortunately pretty good (and the subtitles easy to read). Naschy and Aured are sharing info about the influences/homages of the film (e.g. German expressionism, Universal horror-films and general gothic elements), shooting locations (e.g. Northern mountains in Madrid - Spain and in the actual country house of Naschy at that time), characters/story (it has also psychological, deeper meanings for its makers), censorship in Spain (they had to shoot two versions - clothed and unclothed, of certain scenes), the origins of the screenplay (Naschy wrote the script in 2-3 days in non-stop, since it was needed fast for the investors from some Dutch bank) and of course the actual shoot (they shot “whatever hours was needed” in day and night, so it took long hours). They also manage to add some historical background (from the story) to the commentary and end up talking about things like “women in movies” from time to time (often also admiring the ladies on the screen!). Some good anecdotes are shared (e.g. in one scene, Vic Winner hit Naschy for real, in the scene at the lake the boat almost swept away and the production crew also managed to burn down to ashes the historical tree that you can see from the opening scenes). Generally Naschy and Aured have a very serious approach to a film (they don´t make fun of it) and clearly they´re quite proud of their work. The commentary can get a bit boring somewhere in the middle, but generally it´s a good effort. Technical aspects just need to be improved for the next one. -International theatrical trailer (in English) runs 2:43 minutes. No subtitles. -Alternate Spanish credit sequence runs 1:54 minutes, including the opening credits in Spanish. -Alternate scenes-section runs 8:53 minutes (in Spanish, with no subtitles). Most of these (except the last two) consist the alternate “clothes scenes”, which were included in the “Spanish version” (due to the censorship at that time). The scenes are roughly as follows (note: some SPOILERS) and all the nudity is now gone (either adding/replacing the clothing or just by editing/re-framing): 1 - Death in the kitchen-scene (with sickle). 2 - Elvira (Emma Cohen) jumps out of her bed and goes out of the room. 3 - Sylvia (Betsabé Ruiz) is being sacrificed and soon Mabille De Lancré is resurrected from her coffin. 4 - Mabille De Lancré seducing her male victim after resurrection. She now has a black dress (instead of being naked or wearing the “see-though” dress). 5 - Alaric du Marnac seducing his female victim. 6 - Dead bodies of both victims. 7 - Alaric du Marnac seducing Elvira (Emma Cohen). 8 - Both Mabille De Lancré and Alaric du Marnac are rising from their coffins. Mabille has now the same black dress as in the earlier (clothed) scenes. Erotic sequence that follows is now gone. 9 - Ending sequence without the sound and “The End” text card. 10 - Two versions of the opening scene, where Mabille De Lancré is being executed, again with no sound and text cards. Other one ends up with freeze frame. Minor nudity is intact on this scene. -Photo gallery includes 46 photos/screens, including Spanish and German lobby cards, together with press material and posters. 6-page booklet includes liner notes by the “Naschy expert” Marek Lipinski (who maintains the “The Mark of Naschy” web site and “The Latarnia Forums”). Keep case comes with cardboard slip case.
Overall
“Horror Rises from the Tomb” is quite an acclaimed Spanish horror-film and one of the most memorable works from Paul Naschy, but at the end of the day it left me a bit disappointed. It can be entertaining, even scary in places, but overall the last “push” wasn´t achieved. Fans of the Euro-horror will most likely eat it up, though, and I can´t really blame them. Plenty of different horror-imagery is included. “Deimos Entertainment” presents the best version of the film to date and I doubt that it´ll be challenged any time soon (unless the Blu-ray-version is coming, that is). For more info, please visit the homepage of Deimos Entertainment.
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